


need you now

by georgiehensley



Category: DC Extended Universe, Justice League (2017)
Genre: Bruce-centric, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Relationships, M/M, Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-17
Updated: 2018-08-17
Packaged: 2019-06-15 23:24:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15423936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/georgiehensley/pseuds/georgiehensley
Summary: bruce doesn't need comfort. and yet, when he's hurt, the team come to him anyway.





	need you now

**Author's Note:**

> i was going through some recent drafts of mine and came across this, just sitting there, completely finished. and after rereading it, i thought it was good enough to post, so, ta-da! enjoy some bruce-centric polyleague :)

bruce is not a man who needs comfort. he can handle himself just fine, taking on the criminals of gotham, even otherworldly beings when it was necessary. he recovers just the same after each encounter.

he doesn’t need comfort.

the league knows this. they know that bruce prefers to be on his own, recovering quietly in his lakehouse when he’s been injured or emotionally compromised. they know he likes his space.

and yet, they still come to him.

clark is there for all the nightmares. he can recognize bruce’s heartbeat from thousands of miles away, and whenever there’s a spike in it late at night, clark’s there. bruce startles awake to find an inhumanly warm body wrapped around his, pressing gentle kisses to his forehead, jawline, cheeks - anywhere clark can reach. bruce always grumbles something about being fine on his own, and clark will just hum in response, smiling as bruce quickly falls back asleep, no longer plagued by nightmares for the rest of the night.

diana comes when bruce decides he needs to blow off some steam. when a criminal slips from beneath his grasp, escaping and disappearing before bruce can realize it, he gets frustrated, and has to take it out on something, and diana has found far too many dents in the walls and bruises on bruce’s knuckles to let him keep dealing with this frustration and anger on his own.

and bruce is always hesitant to take her on in a fight, both because he doesn’t want to hit a woman (which diana would just scoff at) and because he forgets that he can’t actually hurt her. she’ll always try to make it an even fight, though, but in all honesty, bruce sometimes prefers the times in which a fight will end with him pinned to the ground, surrendering to her strength and power.

arthur will get bruce out of the confines of his house, urging him to take a refreshing dip in the lake outside. bruce never wants to, of course, but when arthur starts shedding his clothes, and all that tanned, inked skin is on display, bruce can’t help but follow in his path. 

and the water does feel good on his bruised, aching body. it refreshes his senses, too, so he knows when arthur is trying to sneak up behind him before he can actually do so. but bruce lets him, of course, letting his head fall back as arthur trails kisses down his neck, beard both tickling and scratching his skin. bruce would never admit it out loud, but it really is one of his favorite ways to relax.

victor will usually try and give bruce the space he needs whenever he calls for it. when victor’s around, running scans down in the batcave, it’s bruce who will usually seek him out for some sort of comfort. oftentimes bruce will wander down there, thinking about the fight while tossing back some hard, expensive liquor straight from the bottle. his hazy mind will recognize victor standing by the computers, walking over to him and practically demanding his attention, even without saying anything. victor will let him be, and the silence between them - aside from the soft hum of the computers - will somehow just be enough. victor will leave when he’s done with barely a word, only placing a metal hand on bruce’s shoulder for a quick moment before he goes. once, bruce places a hand on top of his before he could pull away, glancing up at him in a silent thank you. victor smiles back before leaving bruce alone.

barry is a bit of a mother hen, so to speak, trying to be a doting nurse to an injured bruce while mostly getting on the man’s nerves. bruce knows he’s trying, knows he cares, but it can all be a bit much sometimes, especially with barry zipping around the house, following him everywhere while also fetching just about anything and everything bruce might need. once, bruce went to take a shower, only for barry to follow shortly after him, yelling over the water to ask if bruce needed help or clothes washed or anything else. bruce only reached out to grab barry and pull him in with him, kissing him to shut his rapidly moving mouth. barry proved to be very useful that day when he did help bruce clean himself, only after getting him just a little bit dirtier.

and hal… hal is probably the last person bruce would ever want to be around when he’s recovering. especially because hal never shows up to help him, he just flies to bruce’s place so that he can enjoy some downtime in bruce’s expensive house. he’ll be respectful of bruce’s request of silence, thankfully, instead settling with quietly watching tv with bruce, letting the older man decide what they watch (though bruce knows that come sundays, hal is really itching to watch some football, so bruce will knowingly put it on for him, secretly loving the way hal’s eyes will light up as he watches a game in which his team is winning). sometimes, bruce will be a little cold as they sit on opposite ends of the couch. hal will say nothing as he pulls his pilot’s jacket off, draping it over bruce’s shoulders. and bruce might fall asleep in front of the tv, only to wake and find hal gone hours later. but the jacket will still be wrapped around him, the warm, familiar smell of hal calming him enough to lull him back to sleep just moments later.

so, maybe bruce doesn’t exactly need the comfort. but when the team gives it to him, it’s only natural that he accepts (and relishes in) it.

**Author's Note:**

> i apologize if the ending's a little weak. endings are hard to write.


End file.
